Mr. Barker had both writing and directing credit on this film. The movie dealt with Frank, a fool who solves the puzzle of the Lament Configuration, looking for more nookie but only finding the pits of Hell. His ex finds a way to resurrect him, but not without having to feed him a few human snack treats along the way.

While the movie was important for getting Barker into the limelight, it's best known for it's monsters, the Cenobites. These were some particularly nasty-looking Hell dudes and dudettes, and the king of the hellspawn was Pinhead. Truly a unique creation, part S&M, part lab experiment, Pinhead was new and different in the world of horror flicks. The first HELLRAISER film has spawned five sequels, with a sixth in the works.

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) obtained the license to produce a wide variety of items based on all six films, including action figures. Fans of the film had mixed emotions about the news. It was great to finally get action figures based on the movie, but NECA was a new player - would they do the license justice?

Today's review is of their 18" Pinhead, which comes with a motion sensor and voice chip. Put this guy just inside the door of your bedroom and he intones four phrases from the movie whenever someone passes by. He's a little tough to come by, as he is a Spencer Gifts store exclusive. He's going to retail for around $50, and you shouldn't be surprised to see him turning up on eBay for even bigger dollars.

I also reviewed his smaller cousins at my other site earlier this week. You can see a review for the 7" Pinhead, Stitch, Chatterer, Chatter Beast, CD and Wire Twin right here.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"18-inch Pinhead"

You really don't appreciate how big an 18" figure is til you have him on your table. This guy is tall. Really. If you have the right decor, he'll look great, though. Of course, if you have the kind of decor to fit Pinhead into your living room, I'm not sure I want to come over to your house. Maybe if you promise your coven won't kill all outsiders.

Packaging - ***

The box is huge, to take in a huge figure. It's fairly standard stuff, and is close to collector friendly. You'll have a lot of twisty ties to re-tie, but it is possible to put him back in the package if you really feel the need. The best thing about this box is the odd looking large photo of Pinhead's face, half on the front and half on the side. Look at it just right, and you'd swear his eyes are following you...

Sculpting - ****

If you were worried about NECA doing the line justice, worry no more. The sculpting on this huge bad boy is excellent, particularly on the head and face. The detail work around the mouth and eyes is fantastic, and there's more pins (which are actually nails) in his head than you can shake a bloody hook at. The nails seem a tad big on this version, but that may be an issue with the large scale. Making the pins thick enough to be sturdy, yet flexible enough to avoid breakage every time you breathed on him, or fling him across the room, because you forgot the motion sensor was on, walk into your dark room, and are starteld by him staring back and saying "We'll tear your soul apart!".

The body sculpting sports the same attention to detail. The skirt is made from a softer plastic than the rest of the body, adding to the look of cloth There's plenty of folks, and more than one person has assumed incorrectly that it actually was material rather than plastic. There are no legs per se, but there are some supports placed inside to keep the form of the skirt looking correct and to avoid "sinking."

The motion detector is well hidden on the figure, placed on the lower left of his chest. I had to search around to find it, so it won't be obvious to the casual observer. The speaker box and battery compartment are more obvious, but since they are on his back it's not a big deal.

Paint - ***1/2
The majority of the paint application is solid, particularly on the head and face. The excellent sculpt is highlighted by excellent paint ops around the eyes, mouth and ears. The lines in his face are all perfect, with no bleed, over spray or sloppy definition anywhere to be seen.

He's not perfect - there's a little glopping of the silver on some of the wires in his back and head - but for a figure in this scale he's extremely well done. There's plenty of extra detail added with the paint as well, with loads of blood on the tools and even his fingernails.

Articulation - **1/2

With a figure in this scale, it's unlikely you'd be doing a lot of posing, but this version allows you to do a fair amount, at least with the upper body. He has neck, shoulders cut biceps, wrists and waist joints. That means the arms can take a number of poses, but from the waist down he's fixed.

That's not as big of an issue as it could be with some licenses, since Pinhead wasn't a particularly dynamic, moving, fighting character. Standing in one spot and looking menacing is what he does best, and this figure pulls that off nicely. More articulation would have been nice, but it's not really necessary. Also, although there are no legs, the bottom of the figure isn't flat. He has been given feet attached to the flat bottom, to bring the skirt up a little off the ground, making him look more realistic.

Accessories - ***
There are two accessories - the Lament Configuration puzzle and a surgical tool of some sort, heavily splattered with blood. Both accessories can be placed in his hands, and the cube fits nice and snug in his right palm. That's great, since it is an easy piece to loose if he drops it.

The sculpting and paint ops are terrific on both, with tons of detail. The cube is particularly cool, and the attention to the patterns and paint application at this scale is excellent. At this price point though, allowing us to at least remove the other "tools" on his belt would have been a nice touch. He has a knife, saw, and some other type of surgical instrument attached to ropes on his person, but they aren't removable.

Talking Feature - ***
The figure has four lines - "We have such sights to show you.", "We'll tear your soul apart.", "Oh, no tears please...it's a waste of good suffering!" and my favorite "Your suffering will be legendary, even in Hell!" The detector works well, although it's a little too touchy at times. You may find yourself shutting it off pretty quick. The sound is pretty clear, although the lines are clearly sampled right from the film. The speaker sounds fine, and the clips come through nice and loud.

Value - **
Ah yes, the hurtful category. Damn, this is such a cool figure. I just wish it wasn't retailing for $50. If you're smart, you'll use your Wild And Crazy card to get a discount (ten percent, I believe), but that's still a pretty big sting. I doubt the ebay prices are going to be any cheaper, but if you compare this to the prices of the McToys 12" figures (such as Tortured Souls), you'll see it isn't that far off. Those were $30-$40 each, depending on the figure and the retailer, at least on initial retail.

Overall - ***
This is a borderline ***1/2, but the price just kept it from being there. Had it been $35, or maybe even $40, the extra half star would have been there. The sculpt and paint ops are fantastic, and the voice feature is nifty. If you're a big fan of the films I'd try to hunt it down. You aren't going to get this level of detail and quality outside the much more expensive busts and statues. I'm not a huge fan of the movie, but he'll be going into my toy room to take a place of prominence.

Where to Buy -
The figure is a Spencer Gifts store exclusive.